Toothbrush

ABSTRACT

A toothbrush is disclosed which in contrast to presently available toothbrushes on the market can be operated solely by finger and thumb movement and pressure. By these means all brushing movements or strokes be they horizontal, vertical or rotational are more easily executed by the user than with presently known toothbrushes with which, due to their design, horizontal scrubbing becomes the normal method of cleaning the teeth.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to toothbrushes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The predominant type of toothbrush on the market today and which hasbeen used over many years since the late 1930s when the advent of nylonbristles and plastic handles made toothbrushes more affordable, haveemployed the use of a brush head attached to a long handle for operatingthe toothbrush.

In the majority of cases, the body of the toothbrush head is arrangedlongitudinally of the handle so that whereas of course such designspermit users to clean their teeth with a mixture of vertical, horizontaland rotational movement of the brush head around the teeth particularlythe generally recommended vertical brushing by dentists to facilitateremoval of debris between the teeth, the presence of the long handlerequires a large amount of wrist movement and does not encourage theuser to manipulate the brush head vertically. Thus horizontal scrubbingby a toothbrush user with conventional long handled toothbrushes oftenbecomes the norm.

Electrical toothbrushes nowadays have above 50% of the market and areprobably more effective for cleaning, utilising a rotating oroscillating action.

They have disadvantages however since they are not conveniently portableand function less efficiently if not charged regularly and adequately.They also employ long handles as with the manual type of toothbrush.

In prior art U.S. Pat. No. 6,094,768 there is described a toothbrushdesigned to dissuade users from habitually brushing their teeth withhorizontal push and pull movements and in a direction parallel to therows of teeth from the incisors to the molars.

The toothbrush disclosed in this prior document has a specially designedlong handle which when held in the hand and used promotes a certain armand wrist movement so as to cause the bristle head of the toothbrushnaturally to brush the teeth with transverse vertical movements whilenot of course precluding horizontally directed strokes.

This is in comparison to other long handled toothbrushes well known inthe prior art which again require a certain amount of wrist and armaction but which by so doing and as a result of the handle designnaturally facilitates horizontal brushing rather than vertical up anddown application of the bristles which is now recommended by dentists.

While the aim of the cited patent is essentially to achieve the sameresults as that of the present invention, it still requires the sameamount of wrist and arm manipulations to achieve the results requiredwhen brushing teeth as is the case with all prior conventionaltoothbrushes which is an aspect of such conventional toothbrushes whichthe present invention aims to avoid.

It is to meet the problems and deficiencies of the prior art that thetoothbrush of the present invention has been conceived. In particular itis an object of the invention to provide a toothbrush which can bereadily operated by finger and thumb movement and pressure so that allthe required brushing movements or stokes be they horizontal, verticalor rotational are more easily achievable by the user than with the priorart and to the extent that horizontal scrubbing does not become thenormal method of cleaning.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a toothbrushcomprising a bristled head, a shaft attached at one end to the head andprovided is at the other end with a formation having a rearward partwhich defines the end . of the toothbrush, and means on a forward partof the formation which, with the rearward part held within the hand, canbe engaged by the fingers and thumb of the hand to manipulate theorientation and movement of the bristle head in the users mouth therebyto execute vertical, horizontal and rotational strokes to clean theusers teeth.

An advantage of the invention as above defined in that in use, whereasin the prior art a large amount of wrist movement is necessary to cleanthe teeth with attendant difficulty in manipulating the brushvertically, the amount of wrist movement is minimalised in that theorientation and manipulation of the brush is done by finger and thumbaction with the enlarged or bulbous formation within the hand acting togive stability to the brushing movement as a whole to achieve verticalas well as rotational cleaning of the teeth, and so as not to limitcleaning to horizontal scrubbing which can damage the teeth.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment takenwith reference to the drawings accompanying this application.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference tothe accompanying drawings wherein;

FIG. 1 is a side view of the toothbrush according to one embodiment ofthe invention.

FIG. 2 is an end view of the toothbrush along the direction A-A in FIG.1.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

The toothbrush shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises a rectilinear shaft 1within the range 5-6 cm in length.

A circular brush head 2 is attached to one end of the shaft 1 as shown.Although not shown in the drawings the circular brush head could berotatably mounted to the shaft. The axis of the brush head 2 is at rightangles to the axis of the shaft 1. The circular form of the bristles 3of the brush head 2 is preferred. Other types such as of squareish formwould be just as useful. As shown the brush head 2 may be more roundedoff or reduced in size along the dotted line 2 ¹.

Although not illustrated, the brush head 2, as well as being rotatablecould be freely mounted for short up and down movements along the lengthof the shaft 1. These movements could be operated electrically by meansknown to one skilled in the art.

The shaft 1 has an increasing cross section to the point 4 where it isjoined to an enlarged or bulbous base 5 forming the end of thetoothbrush. Although not shown in detail in the drawings the shaft 1 isreplaceably mounted to the bulbous base 5 as by push-fit engagement orother suitable means understandable to one skilled in the art. Theextent of the bulbous base 5 from point 4 is with the range is 5-6 cm inlength giving a total length of toothbrush of around 11 cm. The maximumcross section of the bulbous based 5 is around 31 mm. It will beapparent therefore that the overall size of the toothbrush is smallcompared to conventional toothbrushes, which provides the toothbrushwith increased versatility in use not provided for in the prior art.

The bulbous formation 5 has a collar 6 around the shaft 1 forming acircumferential transverse ledge 7.

The cross-section of the collar 6 is triangular forming three individualperpendicular wall parts 8. Each wall part 8 is serrated at 9 as shown.

The bulbous formation 5 has an end section 10 of greater cross-sectionalarea than the collar 6 and is joined to the collar by a waisted portion11 the most reduced cross-section 12 of which is smaller than that ofthe collar 6.

The end of the bulbous formation 5 is rounded at 13 as shown.

In a preferred embodiment, although not shown in the illustration, therounded portion 13 could be flattened off and internally weighted toallow the toothbrush to be rested on a flat surface when not in use.

The outer size and shape of the end-section 10 of the bulbous formation5 is so determined that in use it can be positioned within the hand withthe thumb and fingers, say the fore and middle fingers for example,engaging the serrated walls 8 of the collar 6 with the middle finger inthe waisted portion 11.

In use the brush head is inserted in the mouth and orientated by meansof the fingers and thumb of the hand engaging the wall parts 8 andwaisted position 11 so as to perform vertical, horizontal and rotationalmovements of the brush head 2 within the mouth. By means of the designof the bulbous formation as so described, ease and stability of rotationand twirling of the bulbous handle within the palm of the hand isfacilitated to access upper and lower teeth on inside and outsidesurfaces using vertical and rotational strokes with biting surfacescleaned by horizontal movement.

The increased circumference above the neck of the bulbous handle 5formed by the ledge 7 so described, acts further to prevent anddiscourage horizontal scrubbing of outer tooth surfaces, since itcontacts the users mouth during use as a result of the chosen length ofthe shaft 1 thus acting as a form of blocking mechanism to the toovigorous use of the toothbrush in the horizontal direction.

As alluded to earlier, the tooth brush according to the invention and asdescribed above as a preferred embodiment thereof, represents a wholenew radical approach to the cleaning of teeth. Its small size and moreuser-friendly construction in relation to the bulky and sometimescumbersome conventional designs presently available, is striking, aswell as the fact that it provides the important attribute of beingeasier to manipulate the toothbrush in a users mouth and execute thosecleaning movements which are the most beneficial from the standpoint oforal hygiene.

1. A toothbrush comprising a bristled head, a shaft attached at one endto the head and provided at the other end with a formation having arearward part which defines the end of the toothbrush, and means on aforward part of the formation which, with the rearward part held withinthe hand, can be engaged by the fingers and thumb of the hand tomanipulate the orientation and movement of the bristle head in the usersmouth thereby to execute vertical, horizontal and rotational strokes toclean the users teeth.
 2. A toothbrush as claimed in claim 1 wherein theformation is provided with an abutment in the form of a circumferentialledge around the shaft.
 3. A toothbrush comprising a bristled head, ashaft attached to the head, a bulbous formation at the base of the shaftshaped to be held within the hand, means on the bulbous formation which,with the formation held within the hand, can be engaged by the fingersand thumb of the hand to manipulate the orientation and movement of thebristle head in the users mouth, and an abutment on said formationpositioned at a spacing from said bristled head so as to engage theusers mouth during brushing thereby to discourage brush strokes in adirection along the line of the teeth whilst facilitating those In adirection transverse thereto.
 4. A toothbrush as claimed in claim 3wherein the abutment is a circumferential ledge around the shaft.
 5. Atoothbrush as claimed in claim 2 or 3 wherein said means on theformation to be engaged by the fingers and thumb of the hand includes aperpendicular wall section depending from said ledge.
 6. A toothbrush asclaimed in claim 5 wherein a waisted portion extends between the ledgeand wall section which form a collar around the shaft and the rearwardpart of the formation in which it is possible to position the middlefinger of the band when operating the toothbrush with the forefinger andthumb around the wall section.
 7. A toothbrush as claimed in claim 6wherein the rearward part is of larger cross section than the collarformed by said ledge and said depending wall section.
 8. A toothbrush asclaimed in claim 7 wherein said depending wall section around said shaftis triangular in cross-section forming three individual wall parts.
 9. Atoothbrush as claimed in the claim 8 wherein each wall part is serrated.10. A toothbrush as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the axis ofthe bristled head is at right-angles to the axis of the shaft.
 11. Atooth brush as claimed in claim 10 wherein the bristled head is ofcircumferential cross-section.